Judaism: Beliefs & Practices
The
Hallowing
of Life
Introduction to World Religions Fall 2007 Dr. Hannah Schell
Judaism - Christianity – Islam
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Monotheistic: these traditions believe in a single divine
Being who is personal, that is, possessing mind and will;
eternal, that is, not subject to the limits of time or
change, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good.
Creation: God creates a world distinct from himself, a
world which is real, not illusory, though totally
dependent on God; a world which is good.
Revelation: In a unique historical event, God reveals his
will, requiring obedience (disobedience being sin. The
revelation in each case is given in writing).
Immortality and Judgment: There is a life after death; at
death, God will judge each individual, for reward or
punishment.
(Adopted from Patrick Burke’s “The Religions of Semitic Origin” introduction. The Major Religions, 191.)
Return to the pie:
So, why do we study Judaism in a course such as this?
Why study Judaism?
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It is the source of western monotheism, including
Christianity and Islam
It is the source for other important aspects of
western civilization, including
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an understanding of history as morally significant;
the creation (including human beings) as good;
the idea of social justice.
It is a source of wisdom (Smith’s corollary).
Huston Smith’s approach to Judaism
Meaning: finding and making
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Meaning in God
Meaning in Creation
Meaning in Human existence
Meaning in History
Meaning in Morality
Meaning in Justice
Meaning in Suffering
Meaning in Messianism
Part I. Jewish Belief
GOD
The World
Human Beings
Three relationships:
 God and the world
 God and human beings
 Human beings and the world
These relationships are spelled out in the sacred scriptures of Judaism.
Scriptures of Judaism
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The Jewish Bible: Tanakh - traditionally understood as
revelation by God: “Written Torah”; composed over several
hundred years (about 900 B.C.E. to about 100 B.C.E.)
Talmud, or “Oral Torah”: “record of the ongoing task of
study, commentary and interpretation through which God’s
continuing communication to human partners is discerned”
(Philip Novak, 176).
Midrashim – collection of legend, exegesis, and homily –
“inexhaustible mine for scholarship, anecdote and cultural
identity” (Smith, abridged, 203).
The Jewish Bible: Tanakh
Tanakh is an
acronym for
1. Torah
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
2. Prophets
Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2
Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Plus 12 minor prophets
(Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi)
3. Writings
Psalms, Proverbs, Job,
The Song of Songs,
Ruth, Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes, Esther,
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah,
1 and 2 Chronicles
Torah: The Five Books of Moses
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The Pentateuch (the “Five Scrolls”) or Torah:
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Genesis tells the story of the creation of the world and
the histories of the fathers of the Hebrew people,
including Abraham.
Exodus tells the story of the rescue of the people out of
Egypt.
Leviticus contains the main provisions of the Law.
Numbers gives a variety of further ordinances and stories
and
Deuteronomy is a summary of the material in the preceding
books
Patrick Burke, The Major Religions, 200.
The Prophets
Prophet: “one who speaks on behalf of another” (in
this case, on behalf of God):
The prophets gave instructions in the name of God
concerning the actions of the people; interpretations
of what had happened or predictions of what was
going to happen; calls to repent of their (the people’s)
sins.
Chastised the people for neglect of social justice and
charity
Judgment moves from the whole of the people to
particular individuals (with Jeremiah).
The Prophetic Principle: God has high standards! (191).
Examples of prophetic writings
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
For the LORD has spoken:
‘I reared children and brought them up –
And they have rebelled against Me!
An ox knows its owner,
An ass its master’s crib:
Israel does not know,
My people take no thought.’
Ah, sinful nation!
People laden with iniquity!
Brood of evildoers!
Depraved children!
They have forsaken the LORD
Spurned the Holy One of Israel,
Turned their backs.
… Your land is a waste,
Your cities burnt down;
Before your eyes, the yield of your soil
Is consumed by strangers –
A wasteland as overthrown by strangers!”
- Isaiah 1:2-4,7
The call to justice –
(Dr. Martin Luther King’s words in their original, biblical context).
“I hate, I despise your festival, and I take no delight in
your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and
grain offerings, I will not accept them… Take away
from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to
the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness
like an ever-flowing stream.”
- Amos 5:21-24.
I. God and the World
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Monotheism
Creation
God’s role in
history
Source: http://www.kidlink.org/albums/album42/EnricoCreazione.jpg
Monotheism
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The Shema – basic prayer of Judaism - “Hear of
Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4).
God is the Supreme Being; the Creator of the
Universe; Judge and Ruler of history; the Supreme
Lawgiver.
Also described as Father, Shepherd, Judge, King.
God does not have relatives and no human needs
God is the sovereign ruler of nature; all is
dependent on him as the creator.
Jewish view of Creation
“When God began to create heaven
and earth – the earth being
unformed and void, with darkness
over the surface of the deep and a
wind from God sweeping over the
water – God said, ‘Let there be
light’; and there was light. God saw
that the light was good, and God
separated the light from the
darkness. God called the light Day,
and the darkness He called Night.
And there was evening and there
was morning, a first day.”
What do you notice here?
Gustave Dore’s Creation by Light
Genesis 1:1-5.
Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy
Scriptures according to Traditional
Hebrew Text.
Jewish Publication Society, 1985.
Some Implications
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The world is separate from God (vs. monism)
The world is real (vs. illusory)
God is the creator – like an artist or a carpenter –
the world is dependent upon God for its creation.
God is good: ethical monotheism.
God intends for us to be good – an offense against
morality is an offense against God (sin).
God & History
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Salvation history – God brings about certain,
definite events; these are the “founding” events that
bind God and the people.
History is linear (vs. cyclical) and begins with
creation, continuing until the final consummation.
History is a drama, with a beginning, middle and an
end.
God, through history, offers and brings redemption
God operating in history –
the founding stories
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God appears to Moses in a burning bush
God rescues the people from slavery in Egypt
God takes care of the people when they wander in
the desert
God reveals his Law to the people through Moses
on Mt. Sinai
God leads them back to Palestine
God appoints Saul and David as Kings.
God & History: formation of an identity
[The people are directed to recite:] “My father
was a wandering Aramean. He went down to
Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned
there; but he became a great and very
populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly
with us and oppressed us; they imposed
heavy labor upon us. We cried to the LORD,
the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard
our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and
our oppression. The LORD freed us from
Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched
arm and awesome power, and by signs and
portents. He brought us to this place and
gave us this land, a land flowing with milk
and honey.”
- Deuteronomy 26: 5-9.
II. God and Human Beings
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Positive view of human nature
Role of sin
Relationship between the divine and human beings:
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Covenant
Chosenness
Role of the Law in that relationship
A celebration of humans
“O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is your name throughout the
earth,
You who have covered the heavens with Your
splendor!
From the mouths of infants and sucklings
You have founded strength on account of
Your foes, to put an end to enemy and
avenger.
When I behold Your heavens, the work of
Your fingers,
The moon and stars that You set in place,
What is man that You have been mindful of
him, mortal man that You have taken note
of him, that You have made him little less
than divine, a
And adorned him with glory and majesty;
You have made him master over Your
handiwork,
Laying the world at his feet, sheep
and oxen, all of them; and wild
beasts, too;
The birds of the heavens, the fish
of the sea, whatever travels the
paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic
is Your name throughout the
earth!”
- Psalms 8.
“Make way, make way, make way for the image of God!”
– Rabbinic saying, cited by Huston Smith, 281.
Sin
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Sin: any departure from God’s way, or any
transgression of the divine commandments.
No sin is unforgivable, but to be pardoned requires
repenting, confessing to God, making restitution (if
needed) and charity.
Smith: “to miss the mark” (281); and note that this
is very different from the Christian notion of
original sin!
Relationship between God and humans
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The covenant: a contract that
involves the pledging of
total selves (Smith, 306).
The covenantal relationship
between the Hebrew people
and their God
A solemn agreement which
binds both parties – the
people through observance
of the law, and God,
obligated to protect and
preserve the people and to
give them possession of the
land of Canaan.
Biblical basis of idea of
covenant…
The covenant with Noah
“The LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth.. But Noah
found favor with the LORD… And when the waters had swelled on the
earth one hundred and fifty days, God remembered Noah and … the
waters subsided. … And God said to Noah.. ‘I now establish my Covenant
with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is
with you…:
never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a
flood, and never again shall there be a flood to
destroy the earth.’ God further said, ‘This is the sign
that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and
every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I
have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a
sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
- Genesis 6-9 (Abridged by Novak, 179).
The covenant with Abraham
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Set forth initially by God (Yahweh) to Abraham:
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD
appeared… and said to him, ‘I am El Shaddai [God
Almighty]. Walk in My ways an be blameless. I will
establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will
make you exceedingly numerous… This is My covenant
with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of
nations. And you shall no longer be called Abram, but
your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the
father of a multitude of nations. I will make you
exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings
shall come fort from you. I will maintain my covenant
between Me and you, and your offspring to come, as an
everlasting covenant throughout the ages, to be God to
you and to your offspring to come, all the land of
Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.”
Genesis 17: 1-8.
Marc Chagall, 1931.
The covenant with Abraham.
The covenant with Moses: a theophany
“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law… [at
Horeb, the mountain of God]. There the angel of the
LORD appeared to him a flame of fire out of a bush;
he looked and the bush was blazing, yet it was not
consumed… God said to him out of the bush, ‘Moses,
Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ then he said, ‘Come
no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the
place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He
said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the god of Jacob.’ and
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at
God.’…[Moses asks, what shall I say when the people
ask me your name?]. God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I
AM.’”
- Exodus 3:1-15
Ellie Wiesel on the Sinai theophany
“Think about it. God decided for the first and
last time.. To reveal himself… You would
expect God to give you a lecture on
theology at least. After all it’s his domain…
Instead.. He gave you al kind of commands
about human relations: Thou shall not kill;
Thou shall not lie;… Why did he do that? It
was so simple. But this was the lesson: God
can take care of himself. What he had to
give man was the dignity of man.”
- Quoted by Phillip Novak, 186.
The concept of Chosen-ness
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“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God: the Lord
your God has chosen you to be a people for his own
possession out of all the peoples that are on the face of the
earth.” (Deuteronomy7:6).
Chosenness means responsibility.
Israel is to be a prophet to the nations of the world, to
bring salvation.
Also, sometimes called the doctrine of election
Smith: “the scandal of particularity” (308).
Teaching was rejected, or amended, by some modern nonOrthodox Jews.
III. Human beings and the world
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What is our relationship to the world? Dominion?
Role of justice; social concerns
Finding meaning – and the possibility of
redemption – in suffering.
Role of vicarious suffering – Suffering on behalf of
another (in this case, the world).
Jewish Messianism - the redemption of the world
Part II. Jewish practice
“Judaism is less an orthodoxy than an orthopraxis. Jews
are united more by what they do than by what they
think. One evidence of this is that Jews have never
promulgated an official creed that must be accepted
to belong to this faith. Observance, on the other
hand.. Is decisive…. Ritual.. In Judaism… aims to
hallow life – ideally, all life.”
- Huston Smith, 300-301; my emphasis
Hallowing life: Cycles of observance
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Day to day observances
Weekly cycle of observing
the Sabbath
Yearly cycle of holy days
and festivals
Rites of passage: from
birth to death
1. Day to Day Observances
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Dietary Laws (Kashrut)
The Shema: “Binding the law on your heart”
Daily prayer
Keeping Kosher
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Kosher – literally means “pure” in
Hebrew; “ritually fit.”
Kashrut: dietary laws –Pertains to food
that is permissible under the Jewish
dietary laws. Understood to be given by
God to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Reasons: hygiene; unhealthy; elevated
spiritual state; symbolic significance.
“For I am the Lord your
God: consecrate yourselves
therefore, and be holy, for I
am holy. You shall not defile
yourselves with any
swarming thing that crawls
upon the earth. For I am the
Lord who brought you up
out from the land of Egypt,
to be your God; you shall
therefore be holy, for I am
holy” (Leviticus 11:44-45).
Laws of Kashrut
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Certain foods (rf Leviticus Ch 11 and Deut. 14:3-21) are
prescribed; only animals which both chew the cud and have
split hooves may be eaten (e.g. cows and sheep but not pigs);
only fish with have both fins and scales; Prohibition against
birds of prey; other seafood
Also laws pertaining to how animals are killed – act of slaughter
must cause the least amount of suffering and performed by
someone who is trained in the law; also rules against animals
with defects.
Restrictions concerning mixing milk and meat. (rf. Exodus
23:19); symbolic meaning: life and death must be kept apart.
Importance of keeping cooking utensils separate in order to
remain pure.
The Shema
Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that
I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to
your children and talk about them when you are at home
and when you are away, when you lie down and when you
rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on
your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on
your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9; my emphasis).
The importance of prayer
Source: http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/religion/prayer.JPG
“Many people pray spontaneously at different
moments in their live or when they
experience inner feelings on a deep level. This
has been called variously praying, wishing,
pouring out one’s heart, conducting an
interior conversation, or meditation… Teffillah
[which is translated in English as prayer]
implies an act of self-judgment or
intercession on one’s own behalf before God,
or the expression of hopeful sentiments.
Tefillah is the standard Jewish term referring
both to the liturgical dimensions of Judaism
and to the spontaneous outpouring of the
human heart. There is no good English
equivalent for the word.”
From David Ariel, What do Jews Believe (188).
2. Weekly cycle: the Sabbath
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The Sabbath is a day of rest; observance of it is
commanded by God in the Ten Commandments (Exod
20:8-11); understood as a sign of the covenant (Exod.
31:12,16).
Sabbath is observed between sunset on Friday evening until
sunset on Saturday evening.
Refrain from work: kindling a fire; ploughing and
harvesting; carrying from one place to another; regulations
expanded by rabbis to list 39 categories of work.
Observance of the Sabbath
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Begins with a service at home, lighting the Sabbath candles,
traditionally lit by the woman of the house who recites
“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who
has hallowed us by your commandments and commanded us
to kindle the Sabbath light.”
Followed by synagogue service and then a ceremonial meal at
home:
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blessing of the children
kiddush prayer over a cup of wine
washing of hands
blessing of bread
Singing table hymns
Grace after meals
Saturday: service on Saturday morning and afternoon.
Ends with the Havdalah ceremony: blessings
3. Yearly cycle of holy days and festivals
Pilgrim Festivals:
Passover (Pesach)
Feast of Weeks (Shauvot)
Feast of Booths (Sukkot)
High Holy Days
New Year (Rosh Hashanah)
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Other minor festivals
Feast of Lights (Hanukkah)
Feast of Esther (Purim)
Passover (Pesach)
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Pesach: to pass over, to exempt or to spare
Begins on the 15th day of Nisan (spring)
Festival of freedom: commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from
slavery in Egypt
Highpoint is the family seder (dinner)
Leavened bread prohibited
High Holy Days (Autumn)
New Year (Rosh Hashanah)
Day of Judgment; Day of Remembrance; Commemorates God’s act of
creation
Begins the ten days of Awe, period of repentance. Synagogue-oriented
Sounding of the Shofar (ram’s horn)
Hallah (bread) dipped in honey (new year will be sweet)
Prayers for peace and tranquility for the world
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
The most solemn day in the Jewish year
Day of fasting and prayer, repentance
Service includes special prayer, “the locking of the gates”: when a
person’s fate is set
4. Rites of passage: from birth to death
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Brit Milah; a bris: circumcision. Sign of entering the
covenant; eighth day after the birth of the male
child.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah: Becoming a son or daughter of the
commandment (Torah).
Marriage
Funerals
Circumcision: a sign of the covenant
God to Abraham: “This is my covenant which you
shall keep between me and you and your
descendants after you; every male among you shall
be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the
flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between you and me.” (Genesis 17:9-11).
Bar & Bat Mitzvah
A time for celebration: First occasion of
reading from the Torah.
Usually followed by a lavish party.
Jewish Marriage
“He who dwells without a wife
dwells without joy, without
blessing, without good, and
without happiness.”
Huppah: marriage canopy (in ancient times
referred to the bridal chamber where the
marriage was consummated)
Ketubah: marriage contract – listing the
groom’s obligations to the bride; recently
highly decorated, artistic piece.
Seven blessings recited over cup of wine
Breaking of glass concludes the ceremony
Source: http://www.ketubahbykarny.com/ketubah-bykarny.html
Life’s passing: Death
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Care of the body and burial: true
kindness.
Dead body is not to be left alone
Burial to take place as soon as possible.
Traditionally, mourners tear their
garments
Mourning period known as shivah
(seven) – begins with day of burial.
The Kaddish (the mourner’s prayer) –
recited three times a day by a mourner
for 11 months and a day and on the
yearly anniversary of the death.
Discussion questions
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What role does religious ritual play (according to
Huston Smith; according to you)?
What is Jewish messianism?
What meaning is there in suffering? What is
vicarious suffering?
What is the Jewish doctrine of election
(chosenness) and why is it controversial?